The shapes of feathers, wings, flowers and leaves combine in a constellation of ceramic and bronze to comprise Forever (Bird-Botanicals), a site-specific installation by Ecuadorian-Canadian sculptor David Constantino Salazar. The work combines recognizable bird anatomy with plant forms to probe the theme of transformation in contemporary culture.

Often representative of freedom, love, peace, and divinity, the symbol of the bird is ripe with meaning. In South American folklore, for example, birds and other animals are evocative of transformation, often shapeshifting between forms in fables. In Museum London’s Atrium, Salazar’s birds are in a state of transition, too, as if between life and death. Here, botanicals grow around misshapen appendages.

To create each element of the work, the artist meticulously hand crafts birds out of clay and throws them against his studio wall. Radically altering their appearance, this act transforms each sculpture into something new entirely. Each component evokes the natural evolution of all living things, as we journey between one state of being to another.